Team-Building Bonsai Workshops = Team + Bonsai + Fun!

We know you feel it, too - more than ever, fostering a positive and collaborative work environment is vital to developing high-performing teams. And "despite its reputation for being, well, lame, team building is the most important investment you can make for your people. It builds trust, mitigates conflict, encourages communication, and increases collaboration. Effective team building... can also be adventurous and enjoyable if you do it with a little pizzazz." - Forbes

Bonsai workshops provide that pizzazz and more! While it may seem unrelated to business at first glance, bonsai is one of the best team building activities for enhancing creativity, promoting mindfulness, and strengthening your entire team.

Here are 5 reasons why bonsai is a great activity for team building workshops.

1. Encouraging Patience and Long-Term Thinking

One of the core qualities that bonsai teaches is patience. Bonsai trees can live much longer than the average person. One of the longest-living bonsai with documented history is now in the Japanese Pavilion of the National Bonsai Foundation Collection in Washington DC, donated in 1976 for the bicentennial by Masaru Yamaki. It is more than 375 years old! Bonsai require consistent care, attention, and patience over months and years to see progress. For teams, this is a powerful metaphor.

In a corporate setting, there’s often pressure to see immediate results, particularly in a fast-paced environment. However, true growth—whether for an individual or a team—takes time. Creating and caring for a bonsai tree reinforces this idea, and reminds group members that successful overall team performance is the result of long-term dedication and a shared supportive environment. 

Some members of your team may have a green thumb, while others worry that their thumbs are black. Experienced gardeners may finish working on their bonsai quickly, while potting and wiring may be new skills for others and take them longer to complete. Working toward a common goal of creating a bonsai tree encourages patience and persistence - individual skills that are invaluable to developing positive group dynamics and a strong team culture. 

2. Promoting Collaboration and Communication

While each team member will have a tree to care for, the process of creating a bonsai can encourages collaboration and improved communication skills. Much like in a corporate environment, bonsai care involves sharing ideas and expertise, providing feedback, and working together to solve problems. Someone may discover a more effective way to wire their tree, and by sharing, expose the rest of the team to different viewpoints that improve the experience for the entire group. 

Team members may break into friendly competition as to who's trees will look "the best" at the end of the workshop, sharing ideas and perspectives on how they each define "the best" bonsai. Infusing fun into the activity is a great way to boost morale and team cohesion. Employee engagement rises with shared experiences and positive interactions in safe environments like a team development workshop.  

3. Fostering Creativity and Innovation

Bonsai is a living art form. There are many official styles of bonsai design, but a large part of the experience (and the fun!) of bonsai is all the different ways individuals can express themselves to reach the same result - a bonsai tree. This is experiential learning at its finest - hands-on skill development with no "right" or "wrong" way to be successful. As a team-building activity, bonsai can encourage innovation as participants think outside the box and leverage their creative thinking to approach problems uniquely.

The process of creating a bonsai tree requires problem-solving skills and strategic thinking. Team members must visualize how their tree will evolve over time and adjust their approach accordingly. Each decision—whether it’s which pot to select, how to trim a branch, or where to place a wire for shaping —requires creative thought and a willingness to relax and have a great time. 

Bonsai offers an opportunity to step away from the usual work-related challenges and tap into a more imaginative, open-ended form of problem solving. This can help break down mental barriers and encourage employees to approach challenges in innovative ways when they return to the office.

4. Enhancing Mindfulness and Reducing Stress

Bonsai are live, growing trees, and as such, are ever-changing. Individuals may have an idea of what they want their bonsai to look like in five or ten years, but they must stop and take notice of their tree as it is in the workshop today, to truly experience it. By practicing the art of bonsai mindfully, team members can adopt regular practices that will help relax their mind and body, reduce stress, and incorporate mindfulness in other areas of their life. 

Engaging with bonsai trees allows team members to step away from their desks, breathe, and engage in a calming, meditative activity. It provides a mental break from the pressures of daily work, allowing employees a unique way to recharge and return to their tasks with greater clarity and focus. The act of caring for a live tree also fosters a sense of responsibility and connectedness, which can improve employees’ emotional well-being and team morale. Bonsai can be considered a wellbeing workshop in that it promotes a healthy work-life balance and can help employees develop their emotional intelligence and copy with stress in more effective ways. 

5. Building Team Spirit and a Shared Goal

Finally, bonsai workshops offer a shared team challenge — designing a living tree and keeping it healthy. This sense of purpose and collective responsibility brings teams closer together. Unlike traditional team-building exercises, which may be focused on specific goals or tasks, bonsai provides a long-term project that everyone can invest in together.

Over time, each team member contributes in their own way to keeping their bonsai happy and healthy —whether by learning a new technique, or offering best practices on how to address a tree-related challenge. The shared experience of caring for their trees can foster camaraderie and strengthens the sense of trust and engagement within the team. 

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Are you looking for a unique team-building experience to motivate your team members and bring them closer together? We've curated a range of options for on-site or virtual team building workshops. Select from the packages below, or work with us on a custom package to meet your team's specific requirements, and make a lasting impact through a bonsai team workshop! 

Bonsai Basics team workshop with Eric and the Bonsaify team: Each participant will experience potting a bonsai tree while learning about the history of bonsai and some basic care guidelines. In addition, each participant will receive:

Option 1

• 1 beginner bonsai tree 
• 1 bonsai container
• Soil and wire to plant and style the tree during the workshop
• Bonsaify tool bag with a basic tool set (scissors and tweezers) 
• "The Little Book of Bonsai"
• A fun freebie + a free bag of time-release fertilizer specific for bonsai

The price per participant for this package: $250